FanSection Blog

Making the rounds of the blogosphere today are reports that CBS saw a 65% year over year increase in videos streamed for it’s March Madness On Demand service.  The service also reportedly attracted 56% more unique visitors than in 2008.  Combine both numbers with the fact that TV viewers are also up 9% and you likely have a goldmine for CBS.

Sponsorships of the online service have included a wide range of brands from Coca Cola to State Farm to Pontiac (how can they afford to sponsor anything?).  There’s also a great little featured called the Boss Button that allows you to toggle away from the video should your boss happen to drift by your office or cube during the middle of the game.  That feature was sponsored by Comcast this time around and has been clicked 1.5 million times during the first two rounds of games…presumably on Thur and Fri of last week.

Overall, the tournament appears to be successful for CBS although I’m guessing that it will be some time before any official numbers are released.  From a branding perspective, many brands have opted for dual TV-online sponsorships that put a consistent message in front of consumers regardless of how they’re watching the game.  I’m looking forward to seeing additional numbers from brands because that’s exactly the model we would like to follow with FanSection communities.  We offer brands the ability to extend their brand message from on-field and on-air mediums to the exact same sports properties and teams online.  That’s a key part of our advertising message and one we’ll continue to drive home using the examples we’ve seen from CBS.